An arrow fletching, generally, is a vane-like appendage commonly found affixed, in multiples, to the aft end of an arrow shaft. The purpose of fletching is to stabilize the flight path of the arrow when shot, thereby drastically increasing an archer's accuracy and consistency over that of using an arrow without fletching. While fletching technology has certainly evolved alongside advancements in materials, arrow shaft designs, bow technologies, and so forth, the underlying concept of using a series of fletching to improve arrow flight is nothing new.
Thousands of years before Christ, archers were fashioning bird feathers onto wooden arrow shafts in order to gain consistent arrow flight paths. To facilitate the fashioning, they made use of materials such as sinew, catgut, and strips of hide in order to literally tie the fletching material to the arrow shaft. While today's arrows still exhibit the same time-proven form comprising a shaft with a point on one end and a nock and fletching on the other, modern day archers, of course, don't have to rely on the rudimentary arrow construction techniques employed by their ancestors.
Today's fletching materials of choice vary from real feather to synthetic feather to rubber to plastic. Regardless of the fletching material, however, most arrow fletching or vane designs in use today are simply glued onto an arrow shaft that is made of either aluminum or a carbon composite. In short, beyond materials and construction techniques, the overall design of a fletched arrow has changed very little in tens of thousands of years. So, what's needed in the art? A better technique of construction, that's what.
Arrows, and the fletching in particular, take a beating during use. Each time an arrow is released from a bow, chances are that the fletching will sustain damage from contact with previously shot arrows, targets, tree limbs, or the like. The predictable result of fletching damage is an ongoing expense for the archer. Some archers prefer to buy their arrows from an archery supplier already assembled and ready to be flung. Other archers, perhaps more particular in their preferences or, at least, more fortunate to have abundant time at their disposal, prefer to custom build their arrows. It is these archery enthusiasts, the ones that choose to build their own arrows and/or arrows for other archers, who possess myriad devices and supplies useful for fletching, and re-fletching, arrows.
When constructing an arrow, the positioning of fletching relative to the shaft of an arrow is critical. One simply doesn't squirt some glue down the shaft, stick some fletching on it, and then see how she flies. Rather, a fletching must be precisely positioned and then held in place while the glue dries before the arrow is repositioned for application of the next, precisely positioned fletching.
There are numerous devices known in the art that are useful when fitting an arrow with fletching. Generally, Bitzenburger describes in U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,551, as does Finlay in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,382, a jig fitted with a spring loaded butterfly style clip that is operable to clamp a fletching and firmly position it relative to an arrow shaft while the fletching glue sets.
Variations of the butterfly clip style fletching jigs taught by Bitzenburger and Finlay are numerous in the market, but all share common shortcomings. For instance, with repeated use, the spring constant associated with the clip portion of jigs known in the art are prone to weakening such that they become unable to consistently grip fletching. Also, when placing a fletching into the spring-loaded clamp, in advance of setting the fletching to the arrow shaft, painstaking care must be taken that the fletching is positioned at the proper depth, angle and index mark within the clamp. Further, the force applied to fletching by way of the clamping force of the clip can damage the fletching as some fletching materials are fragile. Even further, the use of a clamp is generally cumbersome and inconvenient for the user. Moreover, clamp lengths may be specific to fletching lengths and fletching applications and, therefore, expensive clamps often must be swapped out each time a user changes fletching designs.
For all the reasons set forth above, as well as other reasons, prior art in the field of arrow fletching jigs are inadequate. Thus, there is a need in the art for a device operable to consistently and conveniently set arrow fletching without the use of a spring loaded clamp mechanism.